20150805 Wednesday, August 5 2015
Isaiah 48: What Does No Rest For The Wicked Mean?

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked"

The English-language word "peace" originated from a Latin word, pax, that meant to agree. "Peace" is used to translate a number of Hebrew words of the Holy Scriptures, primarily:

The Hebrew word, pronounced shaw-lowm, which means happy, healthy, friendly, prosperity. "Shalom" is still very familiar today as a customary Hebrew greeting or farewell. Example:

"4:18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive.

And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace." (Exodus 4:18 KJV)

The Hebrew word, pronounced khaw-rawsh, which means to be silent. Example:

"18:36 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not." (2 Kings 18:36 KJV)

The Hebrew word, pronounced sheh-lem, which means thankful. Example:

"20:24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. (Exodus 20:24 KJV)

Most people realize that the common "there's no peace for the wicked" (or "there's no rest for the wicked" - as we will see, they mean the same) saying is based upon the Scriptures. Specifically, it's found in the Book of Isaiah:

"48:22 There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked." (Isaiah 48:1-22 KJV)

"Wicked" means twisted i.e. like a wick (see What Does Wicked Mean?).

But which Hebrew word was the "peace" in "There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked"? Shalom. As explained above, the Hebrew word, pronounced shaw-lowm, that means happy, healthy, friendly, prosperity. There is no "Shalom" for the twisted (see the Fact Finder to understand the connection of Shalom to Salem, a prophetic name for Jerusalem).

The "peace" that is prophesied in the verse isn't just about the misery that people who choose to live a wicked life will inflict upon themselves in this physical life. Nor is it just about the misery that the wicked inflict upon others in their insatiable and arrogant lust to kill and destroy everything and everyone. Their loss is moreover that of an eternal peace that will be granted only to those who repent and obey the LORD. Salvation isn't for those who choose to make themselves losers.

"3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 3:9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 3:10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 3:11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." (Hebrews 3:7-15 KJV)

"4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:9-12 KJV)

It was within that entire context that Isaiah wrote the prophecy of "There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked."

"48:1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness. 48:2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name. 48:3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. 48:4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; 48:5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them. 48:6 Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it?

I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. 48:7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them. 48:8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb. 48:9 For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. 48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. 48:11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

48:12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. 48:13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.

48:14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans. 48:15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

48:16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

48:17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. 48:18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: 48:19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

48:20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob. 48:21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

48:22 There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked." (Isaiah 48:1-22 KJV)

Fact Finder: Why is Jerusalem (i.e. Jeru-salem) called Salem?
See Salem In History And Prophecy and Life In The Kingdom Of Peace